View source for Alma mater

{{short description|School or university that a person has attended or graduated from}}
{{For-multi|the type of song|Alma mater (song)|other uses|Alma mater (disambiguation)}}
[[File:Columbia University, NYC (June 2014) - 09.JPG|thumb|The ''[[Alma Mater (New York sculpture)|Alma Mater]]'' statue at [[Columbia University]] in [[New York City]]. Cast by [[Daniel Chester French]] (1903).]]
'''Alma mater''' ({{Langx|la|[[Wikt:almus#Latin|alma]] [[Wikt:mater#Latin|mater]]|link=no}}; {{plural form}}: '''almae matres''') is an [[allegory|allegorical]] [[Latin]] phrase meaning 'nourishing mother'. It personifies a [[school]] that a person has attended or graduated from.<!-- See sources and talk page; it does not always require having graduated --><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20180513081122/https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/alma_mater?filter=dictionary&query=Alma "alma"], Oxford Dictionaries. Retrieved October 11, 2018.</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Definition of 'Alma mater'|url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/alma%20mater |website=[[Merriam-Webster]]|access-date=3 April 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Ayto |first=John |title=Word Origins |edition=2nd |year=2005 |publisher=A&C Black |location=London |isbn=9781408101605 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hsRISNLSSHAC&q=alma%20mater |access-date=18 May 2015}}</ref> The term is related to ''[[alumnus]]'', literally meaning 'nursling', which describes a school graduate.<ref>{{cite book |last=Cresswell |first=Julia |title=Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2010 |page=12 |isbn=978-0199547937 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J4i3zV4vnBAC&pg=PA12 |access-date=18 May 2015}}</ref>

In its earliest usage, ''alma mater'' was an [[epithet|honorific title]] for various [[mother goddess]]es, especially [[Ceres (mythology)|Ceres]] or [[Cybele]].<ref name=OED>''Shorter [[Oxford English Dictionary]]'', 3rd edition</ref> Later, in [[Catholicism]], it became a title for [[Mary, mother of Jesus]]. By the early 17th century, the nursing mother became an allegory for universities. Used by many schools in [[Europe]] and North America, it has special association with the [[University of Bologna]], whose motto ''Alma Mater Studiorum'' ("nurturing mother of studies") emphasizes its role in [[List of oldest universities in continuous operation|originating the modern university]].

Several university campuses in [[North America]] display artistic representations of ''alma mater'', depicted as a robed woman wearing a [[laurel wreath]] crown. The earliest and most famous of these is the bronze [[Alma Mater (New York sculpture)|''Alma Mater'' statue]] at [[Columbia University]], designed in 1901 by [[Daniel Chester French]].

==Etymology==
[[File:Legate John, Alma Mater Cantabrigia Emblem 1600 (Golden Chaine print).jpg|thumb|[[John Legate|John Legate's]] Alma Mater for the [[University of Cambridge]], written in 1600]]
Although ''alma'' (nourishing) was a common epithet for [[Ceres (mythology)|Ceres]], [[Cybele]], [[Venus (mythology)|Venus]], and other mother goddesses, it was not frequently used in conjunction with ''mater'' in classical Latin.<ref name="Sollors-1986">{{cite book |last=Sollors |first=Werner |author-link=Werner Sollors |title=Beyond Ethnicity: Consent and Descent in American Culture |url=https://archive.org/details/beyondethnicityc00soll |url-access=registration |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1986 |isbn= 9780198020721 |page=[https://archive.org/details/beyondethnicityc00soll/page/78 78]}}</ref> In the ''[[Oxford Latin Dictionary]]'', the full phrase's origin is attributed to ''[[De rerum natura]]'', in which Lucretius uses the term as an epithet for an unnamed earth goddess:
<poem lang="la" style="margin-left:1em; float:left;">Denique caelesti sumus omnes semine oriundi
omnibus ille idem pater est, unde alma liquentis
umoris guttas mater cum terra recepit (2.991–993)<ref>{{Cite Wikisource|wslanguage=la|wslink=De rerum natura (Titus Lucretius Carus)|title=De rerum natura|chapter=Liber II|author=[[Lucretius|Titus Lucretius Carus]]}}</ref></poem>
<poem style="margin-left:1em; float:left;">We are all sprung from that celestial seed,
all of us have same father, from whom earth,
the nourishing mother, receives drops of liquid moisture</poem>{{Clear|left}}

After the [[fall of Rome]], the term was used in Christian liturgy to describe [[Mary, mother of Jesus|Jesus' mother, Mary]]. "[[Alma Redemptoris Mater]]" is a well-known eleventh century [[antiphon]] devoted to Mary.<ref name="Sollors-1986" />

The earliest documented use of the term to refer to a university is in 1600, when the [[University of Cambridge]] printer, [[John Legate]], began using an emblem for the [[Cambridge University Press|university press]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Stokes |first=Henry Paine |title=Cambridge stationers, printers, bookbinders, &c. |year=1919 |location=Cambridge |publisher=Bowes & Bowes |page=12 |url=https://archive.org/stream/cambridgestation00stokrich#page/12/mode/2up |access-date=18 May 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Roberts |first=S. C. |author-link=Sydney Castle Roberts |title=A History of the Cambridge University Press 1521–1921 |date=1921 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |url=https://archive.org/stream/historyofcambrid00roberich#page/34/mode/2up |access-date=18 May 2015}}</ref> The first-known appearance of the device is in [[William Perkins (theologian)|William Perkins']], ''A Golden Chain'', a book first printed by Legate in 1600. On the title-page, the Latin phrase ''Alma Mater Cantabrigia'' ("nourishing mother Cambridge") is inscribed on a pedestal bearing a lactating woman wearing a [[mural crown]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Stubbings |first=Frank H. |title=Bedders, Bulldogs and Bedells: A Cambridge Glossary |edition=2nd |year=1995 |page=39}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Perkins |first=William |author-link=William Perkins (theologian) |title=A Golden Chaine: Or, the Description of Theologie, containing the order and causes of salvation and damnation, according to God's word |year=1600 |publisher=University of Cambridge |location=Cambridge |url=https://archive.org/details/goldenchaineorde00perk |access-date=18 May 2015}}</ref>

In reference works of English etymology, often the first university-related usage is cited as 1710, when an academic mother figure is mentioned in a remembrance of [[Henry More]] by Richard Ward.<ref>{{cite web |last=Harper |first=Douglas |title=Alma mater |website=Online Etymological Dictionary |url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=Alma+Mater |access-date=18 May 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Ward |first=Richard |date=1710 |title=The Life of the Learned and Pious Dr. Henry More, Late Fellow of Christ's College in Cambridge |publisher=Joseph Downing |location=London |page=148 |url=https://archive.org/stream/lifelearnedandp00wardgoog#page/n178/mode/1up |access-date=18 May 2015}}</ref>

==Special use==
[[File:Archiginnasio ora blu Bologna.jpg|thumb|The [[University of Bologna]], the [[List of oldest universities in continuous operation|world's oldest university in continuous operation]], known in Latin as {{Lang|la|Alma Mater Studiorum}} (nourishing mother of studies).]]

Many historic European universities have adopted ''Alma Mater'' as part of the Latin translation of their official name. The Latin name of the [[University of Bologna]], {{Lang|la|Alma Mater Studiorum}} (nourishing mother of studies), refers to its status as the [[List of oldest universities in continuous operation|oldest continuously operating university in the world]]. At other European universities, such as the [[Leipzig University|Alma Mater Lipsiensis]] in Leipzig, Germany, or [[Jagiellonian University|Alma Mater Jagiellonica]], Poland, the title emphasizes historic ties to a founding city or dynasty.

The [[Alma Mater Europaea]] in [[Salzburg]], Austria, an international university founded by the [[European Academy of Sciences and Arts]] in 2010, uses the term as its official name.

In the [[United States]], the [[College of William & Mary]] in [[Williamsburg, Virginia]], has been called the "Alma Mater of the Nation" because of its ties to the founding of the country.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wm.edu/about/history/|title= History & Traditions|publisher=William & Mary }}</ref>

At [[Queen's University at Kingston|Queen's University]] in [[Kingston, Ontario]], and the [[University of British Columbia]] in Vancouver, British Columbia, the main student government is known as the Alma Mater Society.

==Monuments==
Sculptures of ''Alma Mater'' are found on several North American university campuses. In 1901, to commemorate the opening of the [[Low Library]], [[Columbia University]] commissioned [[Daniel Chester French]] to design a bronze statue of for the library's steps. French chose the ''alma mater'' to allegorically embody the university without depicting its founder, King George II.<ref name=Holzer>{{cite book |last=Holzer |first=Harold |title=Monument Man: The Life and Art of Daniel Chester French |publisher=Princeton Architectural Press |location=New Jersey |year=2019 |pages=207–211}}</ref> A similar sculpture, cast in 1919 by [[Mario Korbel]], sits on the main entrance steps at the [[University of Havana]].<ref>{{cite web|last1=Cremata Ferrán|first1=Mario|title=Dos rostros, dos estatuas habaneras|url=http://www.opushabana.cu/index.php/articulos/36-articulos-casa-de-papel/4031-mario-cremata-ferran|website=Opus Habana|date=20 February 2014|access-date=21 January 2015|archive-date=18 March 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150318072218/http://www.opushabana.cu/index.php/articulos/36-articulos-casa-de-papel/4031-mario-cremata-ferran|url-status=dead}}</ref> 

Other tributes to ''alma mater'' include [[Lorado Taft|Lorado Taft's]] ''[[Alma Mater (Illinois sculpture)|1929 sculpture]]'' at the [[University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign]] and [[Cyrus Edwin Dallin|Cyrus Dallin's]] 1925 sculpture at the [[Mary Institute and St. Louis Country Day School|Mary Institute]] in 1925, commissioned by [[Washington University in St. Louis|Washington University]] supporters.

An altarpiece mural in Yale University's [[Sterling Memorial Library]], painted in 1932 by [[Eugene Savage]], depicts the ''Alma Mater'' as a bearer of light and truth, standing in the midst of figures representing the arts and sciences.

{{Gallery
| title        = Depictions of ''Alma Mater''
| align        = center
| footer       =
| style        =
| state        =
| height       = 200px
| width        =
| perrow       =
| mode         = packed
| whitebg      = 
| noborder     = yes
| captionstyle =
| File: Universidad de la habana fachada.JPG
 | ''Alma Mater'' at the [[University of Havana]]
 | alt1=
| File:Alma Mater Restored 2014.jpg
 | ''[[Alma Mater (Illinois sculpture)|Alma Mater]]'' by [[Lorado Taft]] (1929) at the [[University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign]]
 | alt2=
| File: Alma Mater statue by Cyrus Dallin - vertical.jpg
 | ''[[Alma Mater (Missouri sculpture)|Alma Mater]]'' by Cyrus Dallin at [[Mary Institute and St. Louis Country Day School]]
 | alt3=
| File: Yale Alma Mater Mural Highsmith.jpg
 | ''Alma Mater'' altarpiece mural by Eugene Savage at [[Yale University]] (1932)
 | alt4=
}}

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==External links==
* {{Commons category-inline}}
* {{Wiktionary-inline}}

[[Category:School terminology]]
[[Category:Latin words and phrases]]
[[Category:Academic terminology]]